How I bought my first new car, a 340 dart in 1970

Thank you all for the warm welcome to my introduction tread. There were a few of you that asked about, and I received a few PM's about the circumstances around buying my Dart, well...here's the story. I grew up in Metuchen New Jersey about two blocks from Suburban Dodge. I would walk home from school everyday and stare at those beautiful cars on the front line of that small dealership. At the age of 15 in 1968, my dad suprised me with my first car, a 1964 sport fury. The car needed work and was dented in more panels than were not, but it had a 413 and a 4 speed and I was up to the challenge. I was suprised he gave me a car, and a Mopar to boot, as I was two years away from getting my license and he was a devoted Ford man.

He was at Boro Motors (also in Metuchen) to buy a new Shelby GT500 and the Sport fury was a recent trade in that was sitting in their back lot. He knew I liked the Mopars and made a deal for the Shelby and the old Plymouth. I went to Suburban Dodge to get parts for the 413 and saw a help wanted sign and got the job...so I was 15 and working around all those great cars. Of course all I did was clean the showroom and take out the trash, I couldn't drive any cars because I didn't have a license yet.

I watched the cars come and go and wanted the Y2 383 '69 GTS that was in the showroom, but of course that wasn't going to happen. Once the '70 model year came around...that was my year. I had my license, I was driving 340's, 383's, 440's and Hemi's on a daily basis. When the first '70 340 Swinger came in I was hooked, I Knew that years of saving all my money would pay off because I would be able to buy the coolest car around. According to the sales manager and my parents, I needed to put down $ 1265.00 because that would lower my payments enough for my to be able to afford with my weekly salary.

I had 6 to choose from: 2 Yellow (1 with vinyl top and black out hood paint), both automatics, 1 Purple with white stripe (4 speed), 1 Burnt Orange Metallic with black top and white stripe (4 speed), 1 Red with white stripe (automatic), and the Go Man Go one that I chose. Mine is a 4 speed, 3.55 sure grip, bench seat, rallye wheels, tach and AM/FM radio. I drove the car sparingly from the start because I wanted to keep it as nice as I could. To date the car has 33,550 miles.